Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? # 1

As a kid I watched this show obsessively, and because of that elusive Carmen Sandiego, I was able to pass my geography tests in school. So, when I was in the comic shop the other day, I noticed this issue and flashing back to my childhood I was compelled to pick it up. That and it was only 25 cents.

The comic sticks true to the Carmen Sandiego formula. Carmen steals some of Earths major landmarks, and the Acme Agency recruits Evan Sawyer, a Carmen Sandiego computer game champ, to hunt her down. After traversing the globe, capturing some of Carmen's crazy henchmen, Evan is able to locate the stolen landmarks, but alas, that damn Carmen Sandiego is gone.

Besides being an educational read of global proportions, the writers do explain Carmen Sandiego's origin. Turns out out she was originally an Acme Agent, but grew bored with solving crimes, so instead turned to a life of crime. So right from the get go, it's been personal war between Acme and Carmen Sandiego. Speaking of personal war, the Chief of Acme on the television program was played by Lynne Thigpen, who was the radio announcer in The Warriors. Neat.